Shrine Handmaid

The Shrine Handmaid is an NPC in Dark Souls 3, located in Firelink Shrine. She is the primary Merchant available to the player, and her inventory of items available for purchase can be expanded by giving her Umbral Ash scattered throughout Lothric.

Shrine Handmaid Information

Offers Merchant services to the player throughout their journey. See a full list of her inventory below. The player is able to upgrade her stock by giving her different types of Umbral Ash scattered around Lothric.

She can be killed, but will respawn when the area is reloaded. Every time she respawns, the price of her wares will increase by twenty percent.

Closely resembles the Handmaids encountered at the beginning of Dark Souls 2, including the armor set she wears, as well as her voice.

In the Untended Graves there is an identical Shrine Handmaid, although she sells different items, such as the Wolf Knight Set and does NOT respawn when killed. This 'second' Shrine Handmaid drops the Priestess Ring if killed.

After killing Alrich of the Deep while completing Sirris' questline, Sirris will leave a unique Budding Green Blossom with the Shrine Handmaid with a note that reads, "Good-bye, dear Grandmother. I will visit Grandfather, in the Pit of Hollows". This seems to suggest that the Shrine Handmaid is Sirris' grandmother. Alternatively, Sirris' grandmother is already dead, and Sirris placed some flowers along with a note on her grandmother's grave, which was stolen by the Shrine Handmaid. After all, the Budding Green Blossom is available for purchase, and what kind of grandmother sells a gift given to her?

After the player has encountered the Shrine Handmaid in the Untended Graves, the Shrine Handmaid in Firelink Shrine will greet the player differently (the first time), as though she has already met you.

Killing her will increase the price of the items she sells and decrease the price of the items you sell to her.

Location

The Shrine Handmaid is located in Firelink Shrine, in the hallway between Blacksmith Andre and the Fire Keeper.

Drops

She does not drop anything if killed in Firelink Shrine and will respawn upon reloading the area.

Dialogue

First encounter

A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ashen One.I am but a humble handmaiden of the shrine.Weapons, armor, trinkets, and spells...I've lots of little things to ease the burden of a weary traveller....And yes, I'm Undead, too, but not so charitable as to give my goods away.Ashen One, fetch souls, and bring them to me.As is thy wont, no?"

First encounter, if you have already spoken with her at Untended Graves

Oh thou'rt... Oh, no, 'tisn't anything Ashen One.I am but a humble handmaiden of the shrine.Weapons, armor, trinkets, and spells...I've lots of little things to ease the burden of a weary traveller....And yes, I'm Undead, too, but not so charitable as to give my goods away.Ashen One, fetch souls, and bring them to me.As is thy wont, no?"

Selecting "Talk" in general

Ashen One, if my wares are not to thy satisfaction,bring me umbral ash.With ash, I'll fashion new wares.Is it not our sorry fate, to sup on death?"

Selecting "Talk" without having bought the White Sign Soapstone

Knowest thou of that soppy gossip?That cordial intrusion layeth the path to embers.And so thou art in need of a soapstone, ashen one.Then thy pockets will o'erflow with souls and trade to me."

Gracious. Passing fine ash thou'st given.And awfully warm, at that.Almost as if it had lived, mere moments ago...Oh, forgive an old woman's idle prate.I'm sure an ashen one such as thee would never indulge such base contrivances..."

After giving her Dreamchaser's Ashes

Ashen One, what woeful umbral ash is this.This barren dust, stuff of a fool, on't yield aught.Where did thou happen upon the stuff? Tell me, for the sport. "

Telling her where you found the ash

Oh, yes, I see...Clinging to lofty dreams in this dying world...more's the pity.It must come from one most foolish indeed.Woulds't thou not agree? "

Well, fancy that.A lost lamb wandereth in, with nary a peep from the bell.Well, thou shouldst my purpose know.What can this old handmaid provide thee?"

Talk (Untended Graves)

To skirt the curse's grasp......tarry not for long.Tis dark for now, and not a soul stirs. But remember, fires are known to fade in quiet.Or perhaps thou'rt captive already.Like the poor girl." (laughs)

After giving her Orbeck's ashes if you get them from the Grand Archives, she has a unique bit of dialogue saying that the fate of the ashes' owner (Orbeck) and death are intertwined... I didn't think to write it down, I was just surprised to see something different. If someone else wants to confirm, that would be neat.

I had a weird thought the other day--what if she's the former queen of Lothric? It doesn't say much about the Lothric queen, other than she disappeared after the birth of Ocelotte. She was also said to be fond of looking after the lonely graves of the Undead, offering her blessings in the form of holy water... Maybe she also went a little nuts, and sort of forgot who she was.

Eh, I guess it's a little far out there, but it's fun to think about nonetheless. Maybe she was just another priestess, considering she sells the Priestess Ring in the Untended Graves version of the shrine, and since her outfit is somewhat similar to Emma's.

When you start a character in dark souls 2 and you talk to the fire keeper servant,she will told you that they used to be 4 sisters instead of 3,when i first saw her in the shirne i realize that she is the 4th,however when you dialogue with her she doesnt say anything about her sisters,and in the game there is no refference that connects her to dark souls 2 universe

There's some dialogue missing from this page (3:30~4:00):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OWkTRn052U#t=03m30sI got this from killing Yuria and giving her Yuria's Ashes right away. Condition seems to be ashes from an NPC vendor that the player killed in Firelink -- can anyone else confirm?

To skirt the curse's grasp......tarry not for long.Tis dark for now, and not a soul stirs. But remember, fires are known to fade in quiet.Or perhaps thou'rt captive already.Like the poor girl." (laughs)

In my play threw I killed Irena (Leading her down the dark path) out of mercy. I found Greirat's ashes and she sounded more sinister this time. I didn't get to catch the dialogue though so some one will need to add the extra lines to quotes.

She sounds and looks very much like the fire keepers of dark souls 2, the one that talks and sets you off on your journey. I dont know what happened, but maybe somehow she ended up here. If this is her, that same person from the time Lothric was called Drangleic, possibly hundreds of years ago( she is already undead so she wont die of aging). Just imagine the kind of crazy grandma ***** that could had went down. Imagine a game that will never happen, where you play as that old lady, sending undead off in dark souls 2, then eventually ***** happens and some giant thing breaks your home and kills the others, or some calamity forces you to leave. Some epic grandma journey where you toast fools with firekeeper pyromancy, knife hollow thugs with mad stealth and enter all the wrong neighborhoods. Your co-ops would include that spoon wielding woman from dark souls 2, who protects the elderly and maybe other fire keepers and pyromaniacs. Lol

She has a unique dialogue when you give her Greirat's Ashes. The dialogue implies that Greirat can't be saved. Patches, if you told him where Greirat went to, says that Greirat might have lost his mind if he decided to pillage Lothric Castle. With that, Greirat was probably fated to meet a grim death.